Three specific coaching decisions that likely cost us the first two games

Towards the end of the Sac St game Will Oliver kicked and made a 50 yard FG. There was a whistle and the play didn’t count. For some reason Embree then decided to punt rather then kick the FG. If he just made the kick why would you change your mind? If the kick was short I would understand but he made the damn kick, how do you see that and then choose to punt? Oliver is also 5/5 in his career on kicks 45 yards or longer. The ensuing punt then went into the end zone for a net gain of about 10 yards. This choice likely cost us 3 points, we lost the game by 2 points.

One thing I’ve complained about on here in the past was Embree’s strange decision to have speedy fair catch a punt on our 10 yard line with 10 seconds until halftime against Ohio State last year, which he of course dropped. This was not quite as egregious but nonetheless he did it again. In the CSU game why even put anyone back to receive that punt before the half? There’s 30 seconds until halftime and we’re fielding a punt inside our own 20. Is our anemic offense going to go 50 yards in 30 seconds to get in FG range and is it even worth trying that when we have the lead and the momentum? On Sunday the Broncos with Peyton fu*king Manning took a knee at their own 20 with 30 seconds until half. Maybe they were just going to take a knee and in that case why even field that punt? We also had already muffed a punt that game and had just avoided trouble in that Webb’s fumble did not cost us any points. That decision cost us seven points, we lost the game by 6 points.

Many people on here are harping on the decision to pass on the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] and goal against CSU but my question is why go for it at all? It’s towards the end of the game, we’re losing, a field goal gives us the lead, the field goal is shorter then an extra point i.e. it’s a sure thing. If it’s the first half and the score at that point doesn’t matter so much, fine, if it’s a long difficult field goal then fine, if a field goal would only tie the game or we would still be losing then fine. But I don’t understand how you pass up a lead late in the third quarter of a close game.

I don’t like it when fans act as ‘Monday morning quarterbacks’ but I don’t think that’s what I’m doing because these decisions are not ‘hindsight is 20/20’ type things. These were obvious choices and yet despite this Embree inexplicably chose incorrectly in each case and if he hadn’t I think we would probably be 2-0 right now. Obviously these specific decisions were troubling but also troubling to me is if generally Embree doesn’t have the aptitude to make simple logical decisions then can he really be trusted to a good job with his other duties as ‘CEO’ of the football program and is there really any reason to believe that his tenure as a whole will be successful?

Ouch, now i'm feeling a little stupid. I didn't actually see the kick but the girl sitting next to me told me it went in. That being said she was sitting next to me because she's hot and not because of her football acumen so I probably shouldn't have listened. The stuff from the CSU game still stands though.

Ouch, now i'm feeling a little stupid. I didn't actually see the kick but the girl sitting next to me told me it went in. That being said she was sitting next to me because she's hot and not because of her football acumen so I probably shouldn't have listened. The stuff from the CSU game still stands though.

Ouch, now i'm feeling a little stupid. I didn't actually see the kick but the girl sitting next to me told me it went in. That being said she was sitting next to me because she's hot and not because of her football acumen so I probably shouldn't have listened. The stuff from the CSU game still stands though.